How to Sell a House without Using a Realtor

If you need to sell your house but don't really want to pay a percentage to a Realtor, there are many techniques that a Realtor uses to sell your home that you can do yourself. By selling your home yourself, you'll save a great deal of money.

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The first thing you want to do is straighten your home and get rid of clutter. This is called staging. Potential buyers want to visualize themselves and their stuff in your home. If you have stuff everywhere, excess furniture and tons of knick knacks, that is all the potential buyer is going to see. Consider renting a storage unit to store some of your things. You don't want the rooms to appear bare, but by decreasing the clutter, you open the room up giving it the appearance of being larger.

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Take quality photos of your home with a digital camera. Provide photos of all rooms. If you have an amenity, such as a fireplace, be sure to include it in the photo. Include the view from your house with yard and back property. Again, if there are any special features, such as a pond or wooded acreage, be sure to include these, as well.

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Create a brochure. Be sure to include the photos and a descriptive summary. List feature and amenities. It is proven that the more information you put on the brochure, the better chance your house will sell with ease. In addition to basics, such as rooms, square feet and amenities, be sure to include: prior year's taxes, average cost of utilities and assigned school district.

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Buy a brochure box and place it in your yard. Be sure to keep the brochures replenished, allowing potential buyers to obtain information in your absence.

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Post a "For Sale" sign in your yard. Also purchase signs with arrows to be placed at corner and roads leading up to residence.

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Always fill out a seller' s disclosure. Be sure to do this before you go under contract. This disclosure can help prevent or reduce risk of a lawsuit in the event that something goes wrong with the house. This is your proof that you informed the potential buyer of the house's condition.

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Get a pre-approval letter from the buyers. Though this letter is not going to reject every one with a little credit card debt, it will help weed out some of the individuals who are not in a financial position to buy a house. This could save you a lot of time and work.

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Keep in mind you can go half and half. Instead of paying the customary 6 percent commission using a Realtor, you can give a Realtor a brochure and have him bring the buyer. This allows you to represent yourself and have him represent the buying side. Then due commission would only customarily be 3 percent.

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Know your customary closing cost. As the seller, you should pay for the title, attorney fees for yourself and taxes. Anything else is not considered customary.